Communist Party surges as Japan's economy withers
TOKYO, Apr. 19, 2009 (AP) Under a big red flag, the headquarters of the Communist Party of Japan are the center of the most vibrant grass-roots movement in the country. The party's ranks are swelling, it has 24,000 branch offices and more than a million people read its newspaper. Only one party - the one that runs the country - beats it at fundraising.
ANC poised for victory in South Africa elections
Workers across South Africa are celebrating the ruling African National Congress’ decisive victory in April 22 elections.
The book Chavez gave Obama
A few national security partisans realize now there’s more to worry about than guns, bombs and rogue states. That would be ideas, and last week, a book. It’s a “really dangerous one that can put the White House at risk,” warned a not-very-serious David Brooks, the Mexican daily La Jornada’s Washington correspondent. He was referring to the book Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave Barack Obama during the recent Summit of the Americas.
Taliban withdraws from Pakistan zone
Taliban militants began pulling out of a recently seized district of north-western Pakistan on Friday. The pull-out came after the government had warned that it would remove them by force.
Anti-Cuban terrorists operate in the US
Havana, Apr 23 (Prensa Latina) Gerardo Hernandez, one of the five Cuban anti-terrorists imprisoned in the US, said many groups plotted and perpetrated terrorist acts against his country from Florida. In a telephone interview with author and filmmaker, Saul Landau, released on www.terroristas.cu, the Cuban fighter said 'We were collecting information on Alpha 66, the F4 Commandos, the Cuban American National Foundation, and Brothers to the Rescue.'
Senegal: Relief as gay activists are released
NAIROBI, 23 April 2009 (PlusNews) - International rights groups have welcomed the release of nine AIDS activists in Senegal, who were sentenced in January for their sexual orientation. On 20 April, an appeals court in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, overturned the convictions of the men, each sentenced to eight years in prison, on charges of 'membership of a criminal organization and engaging in acts against the order of nature'.
China backs two-state settlement
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visited Jerusalem on Wednesday, expressing 'strong support' for an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement based on a two-state solution.
UN recognizes April 22 as Mother Earth Day
NEW YORK - The United Nations moved to make Earth Day a global holiday Wednesday. The UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution by Bolivian President Evo Morales to designate April 22 as “Mother Earth Day.” Attending the observances at the UN headquarters, Morales addressed the 192-nation body, saying the earth has a “right to live.”
WORLDNOTES - Venezuela, Greece, Japan, Iraq and Cuba
Venezuela: ALBA poses alternatives Greece: Labor faces repression Japan: Parliament OKs base treaty Iraq: Foreign firms deal for oil Cuba: Prisoner exchange to free the Five
What Bolivian democracy looks like
Noam Chomsky recently praised Bolivia as “probably the most democratic country in the world.” (Democracy Now, April 13.) “Huge, popular, mass organizations of the most repressed population in the hemisphere [have] entered the political arena [and] were able to elect a president from their own ranks.”
